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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28273818">My First and Last (And First Again)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/abandoned_shopping_carts08/pseuds/abandoned_shopping_carts08'>abandoned_shopping_carts08</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Bottom Na Jaemin, Established Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Happy Ending, Injury Recovery, K-pop References, Lee Jeno is Whipped, M/M, Na Jaemin is Whipped, Na Jaemin-centric, OT21 (NCT), POV First Person, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Some Humor, Sweet Lee Jeno, Top Lee Jeno</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:53:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,491</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28273818</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/abandoned_shopping_carts08/pseuds/abandoned_shopping_carts08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jaemin didn’t think anything could hurt as much as his herniated disk, until his fellow group mate Jeno became his personal stay at home nurse! Will their years long friendship stay platonic? Or will pent up feelings bubble to the surface after being hidden?</p><p>*Each chapter is titled by a designated NCT song I feel like describes the tone, aesthetic, and theme of the chapter!*</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>My First and Last (And First Again)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi y'all &lt;3!<br/>I don't know if anyone is going to be reading this but if you are thank you and I would like to note that this is my first time posting! If anybody has constructive criticism please leave it in the comments so I can improve! I'll be updating this 2 to 3 times per week to hopefully advance the story along at a good pace.<br/>Additionally, Jeno and Jaemin have been aged up to 19 despite the story occurring after "Chewing Gum." This was just to make me more comfortable when writing the eventual *steamy* scenes I'm planning to include.<br/>Hope everyone enjoys! :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“This has to be a fucking joke, right?”</p><p>“Language Jaemin, please!” My manager had yelled throughout the cramped doctor’s office.</p><p>The same room where my dreams of promoting with NCT Dream were <em>quickly </em>coming to an end. I couldn’t tell if I felt like I was choking from pure shock or from the tight beige turtleneck that felt increasingly constricted against my esophagus.</p><p>“A herniated disk? What the hell does that even mean?” I managed to sputter out.</p><p>“Aside from the medical issues, it means you will not be able to dance or perform in the time you need to recover. Since you’re 19 you should heal quickly but I will be advising your company to pull you from vigorous activities.”</p><p>And that was the <em>exact </em>answer I didn’t want to hear. After only one song I was already getting pulled temporarily from the group I had spent years training for. It was a waste, wasn’t it? The time, energy, and parts of my youth I had sold to this company only to already be thrown to the side within months.</p><p>“I’m going to be prescribing you medication to help with the pain as well as physical therapy three times a week to strengthen the muscles around the area”</p><p>Just like my time in Dream, even the doctor was trying to get me out of here as quickly; figures.</p><p>“I get it, I get it. Can we just leave now? You wanted me to rest, right Doc? Then let me head back to the dorm so I can rest.” I admit I was being sarcastic, but I needed to get out of there, just get back to the dorm, wallow in my sadness, and be forced to listen to the next song I <em>wouldn’t </em>be promoting in.</p><p>Clearly fed up with my attitude, my manager tried to hurry us out of the building as quickly as possible.</p><p>“Thank you Doctor! I’ll be sure that Jaemin attends <em>all </em>his appointments and takes <em>all </em>his medication! We look forward to hearing from you!” This was all yelled into my ear as I was being dragged out of the office.</p><p>“God Jaemin. Did you have to act like such a nuisance in there?”</p><p>“Well wouldn’t you feel the same? If your dreams of performing on stage ended within a span of ten minutes? If you realized that you had to watch your members go off to practice for promotions while you were stuck in the dorms, or even worse, at physical therapy?” (The last part might’ve been an exaggeration).</p><p>I was done and needed to let out my frustrations, and sadly, my manager was the only person within shouting distance. Hopefully he couldn’t hear me over the slam of the door of the black SUV.</p><p>“Look Jaemin could you please quiet down? I understand you’re frustrated but luckily for you I already called Jeno and he agreed to stay behind with you in the dorms a few a days a week while you get better. I mean it works out; you already share the same room.”</p><p>Fuck no.</p><p>I could tell from my manager’s smug expression he believed he was my savior by already having one of the other members help out the <em>poor, broken, and helpless </em>Jaemin of all people. But it had to be someone else, ANYONE but Jeno! It was hard enough sharing a room with him but now he was my stay-at-home nurse and maid?</p><p>On second thought, maybe a maid outfit wouldn’t be too bad. Wait; clean thoughts only on the drive back with your manager.</p><p>“Is that fine with you Jaemin?” I had zoned out as pictures of Jeno in a maid costume floated through my mind.</p><p>“Yeah, that’s fine. Thank you, he already acts like a mother anyways.”</p><p>It wasn’t fine, not in the slightest, but I managed to fake falling asleep in hopes to forget the dumpster fire that this day was becoming.</p><p>-*-</p><p>*<em>Click* </em>I managed to find my keys to the dorm after my manager dropped me off to attend to ‘other business’ or what I liked to call ‘things that didn’t involve having to worry about me.’</p><p>“Nana!” I already had a headache and hearing Jisung’s 17-year-old screech didn’t help it.</p><p>I always felt like a father to Jisung and having him see me in such a debilitating state didn’t help with my self-confidence.</p><p>Ending up in the living room, he ran over to embrace me in a hug so tight it definitely wasn’t good for my physical health, but I’ll admit did help with the emotional toll this day had taken on me.</p><p>“Do you need anything?” Jisung said in our embrace, “A heater? Food? Blankets? Words of encouragement?”</p><p>“Well apparently it seems like a I need a new back, but I don’t know if you can provide that for me right now Jisung.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m sorry, mine’s still in pain from carrying the weight of NCT Dream since ‘Chewing Gum’” He chastised.</p><p>I giggled on the inside, but I decided to ignore his remarks because I wasn’t in the mood to snap again.</p><p>“Where’s Jeno?” I wanted to settle myself in so he was required to do the absolute bare minimum for me in the upcoming days and weeks.</p><p>“Jeno went out to the store to get some necessities for you. He knew you weren’t going to be in the best mood when you came back so he wanted to make sure you were as comfortable as possible!” Jisung said.</p><p>I grew hot and felt like I was turning into a tomato right then and there. God, I felt like I was a kid in elementary school and just got a Valentine’s Day card from my crush.</p><p>(Which never happened in my case since, apparently, it’s improper for a boy to hand another boy a card that was anything but platonic. Damn you homophobia!). I tried not to show it but I thought it was a cute gesture. I was flustered at even thinking that Jeno was going out of his way to help me! Me of all people!</p><p>“Wow what a nice guy our Jeno is!” Evacuate; I had to evacuate the premises before baby Jisung realized I had a crush. “I’ll excuse myself to my room then, you don’t need to get me anything right now Jisung!” I attempted to hobble to my room as quickly as my herniated disk allowed me which, spoiler alert, wasn’t fast at all.</p><p>“But wait don’t you need anything? You haven’t been home all day!”</p><p>“Nope! No! Nothing! Thank you though Jisungie” I screamed with the most intense aegyo known to man right as I slammed the door separating us.</p><p>Finally, I had some quality time to myself. No managers, doctors, or screaming Jisungs to distract me. I flopped down on my bed only to be confronted with a resounding *<em>splat*</em>! Yup, the chocolate I had snuck into my bed after dinner last night was completely smeared on my clothes. This day couldn’t get any worse could it?</p><p>“This has to be a joke.” At this point I looked like shit and just needed a complete restart to my day.</p><p>I walked over to Jeno and I’s wardrobe to get fresh clothes. It was like a breath of fresh air looking at Jeno’s clothes since our styles were completely different. I liked to look put together, longer coats in the winter and well fitted buttoned shirts in the summer all with neutral colors. Jeno on the other hand was completely casual in his attire. Longer shorts, brighter colors, and flannels all had a certain quality of who Jeno was; cool, calm, and collected. Everything that I was not. Every time I was around him I immediately felt comforted and hated him for it. I was meant to be high-strung and arrogant, except that’s not who I wanted to be around Jeno.</p><p>I haphazardly picked out the SM town shirt we all received in Japan and a simple pair of black shorts that were washed. They felt big but I couldn’t tell if that was because I lost weight or if I was going crazy.</p><p>I slid the dirtied shirt off my torso, “Ouch!” Even simple tasks like undressing began to be a pain.</p><p>My eyes caught myself in the mirror. I felt broken. I couldn’t see the injury, but the pain was reflected in every other part of my body. The sunken in eyes, sickly body, and just general essence of defeat was evident at first glance. Oh, and the chocolate smeared shit that was on my pants.</p><p>Positioning myself in front of my bed I slid the soiled article of clothing down my legs and reached-</p><p>“Hey Jaemin! I brought you some… Oh my God.”</p><p>Oh my God was right, it was Jeno’s first time seeing me since my diagnosis and he was introduced to me only in my pink peach patterned underwear.</p>
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